Reuben Iceland (1884–1955)

Reuben Iceland was born to a Jewish family in Radomyśl Wielki, Austrian Galicia. His parents were Beile Gelozahler and Leib Eisland. He began writing Hebrew poems as a teenager. In 1903, at age 19, he immigrated to the USA, settling in New York City. He found work as a packer in a hat factory. In 1907, he helped found the avant-garde Yiddish literary movement Di Yunge. He quickly became the group's chief theorist, writing manifestos outlining its principles. He served as editor of the publication Literatur un Leben (Literature and Life) in 1915, and was co-editor of Der Inzl (The Island) with Mani Leib and Zishe Landau in 1925-1926. In 1918, he became a regular contributor to the liberal Jewish daily paper Der Tog, followed by Der Tog Morgn Zshurnal. He published several volumes of poetry, including Fun Mayn Zumer (From My Summer, 1922). Later in life, he published the memoir Fun Unzer Frillig (From Our Spring, 1954). One of his most popular poems was "Tarnow," which captured Jewish life in the Galician town of Tarnow. At Der Tog, Iceland met fellow poet Rosa Lebensboym (pen name Anna Margolin), and they later became long-time companions. Fun Unzer Frillig included a lengthy biographical sketch of her. Iceland also was a prolific translator of German, English, and Chinese literature into Yiddish. He translated eight volumes of works by Heinrich Heine; novels by Herman Bang; and works by Richard Dehmel, Max Dauthendey, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Robert Louis Stevenson, among others.